1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to nanocrystal growth and, more specifically, to a method of generating nanocrystal frame structures.
2. Description of the Related Art
Manipulating the morphology, structure and composition of noble-metal nanocrystals offers a powerful means to tailor and improve their properties for a myriad of applications, such as catalysis, plasmonics, and biomedicine. In particular, bimetallic (and trimetallic) nanocrystals have drawn interest owning to their abundant variations in compositions and spatial distributions. Compared to monometallic nanocrystals, the electronic coupling between the two constituent metals of a bimetallic nanocrystal can dramatically improve their catalytic performance or even initiate new features. For example, the oxygen reduction reaction activity catalyzed by Pt3Ni {111} surface holds a 90-fold gain over the state-of-art Pt/C electrocatalyst. Moreover, the localized surface plasmon resonance peaks of Au—Ag nanocages can be tuned in a wide-range by adjusting the ratio of Au:Ag. These advances demonstrated the significance of rational design of bimetallic nanocrystals with new structures and highlighted properties to fit a specific application.
Therefore, there is a need for methods of controlling the morphology of bimetallic nanocrystals.